Hanoi (VNA) – The World Health Organisation(WHO) and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam have released ajoint statement ensuring that children are vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The joint statement was issued on the occasion of theWorld Immunisation Week that lasts from April 24-30.

According to the joint statement, with the COVID-19 pandemic dominatingattention in Vietnam and across the world, WHO and UNICEF are calling onnational and local health authorities, families and communities, as well asdevelopment partners and the private sector to step up efforts to ensure thatchildren continue to receive essential immunization during the pandemic, sothat ground is not lost in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases.

If vaccination continues to be disrupted, thosediseases could return, and the world could see vaccine preventable diseaseoutbreaks.

The COVID-19 pandemic is overstretching health caresystems and has already disrupted immunisation services in many placesbecause health workers have been reassigned to the pandemic response and inmany instances, they have also been discouraged to conduct routine activitiesinvolving physical interactions with healthy people.

Some parents are consciously avoiding health carefacilities, worried that the COVID-19 virus could be transmitted to them andtheir babies.

At this critical time, children are missing importantmilestones in their immunisation schedule and this situation could put theirhealth at risk. 

Data from around the world indicate that more than 117million children are at risk of missing out on measles vaccines globally due tothe pandemic, and Vietnam is not an exception.

“We have observed in the country a decrease in vaccinecoverage and the occurrence of measles and pertussis cases in the first quarterof 2020,” they explained. 

The science proved that vaccines work. They are a safe,effective and life-saving tool against certain diseases that can be deadly forchildren. Immunisation can also protect adolescents, adults, older people, andthey keep whole communities safe.

Vietnam strives to improve immunisation servicesacross the country. The Ministry of Health works on the basis of scientificevidence to build confidence, trust and demand for vaccination amongcommunities and to counter misinformation spread online.

WHO and UNICEF are committed to continuing to provide fact-based information on vaccines to health authorities, to the public ingeneral and to parents in particular with so that everyone can make informeddecisions.

While Vietnam is on a path to success in containingthe spread of COVID-19 now, the fight against that disease may continue foryears to come. It should be everyone’s priority to start planning on how we cancontinue to provide essential health services – including immunization – at anystage of the pandemic.

“We are encouraging health services to reach out, andparents to prioritise securing vaccination to protect their children. It istime to setup a plan for routine immunisation to return to normal whileensuring social distancing and the safety of health workers and communities. Itis also time to work jointly to ensure that those children who missed essentialvaccines in the last months are brought up to date with their immunisation. As we have learnt in other crisis, whenhealth workers reach families to immunise children it is also a primeopportunity to attend to other key health interventions. UNICEF and WHO standready to continue our support to the Government of Vietnam in this effort,”the statement said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed what is at stakewhen communities do not have the protective shield of immunisation against aninfectious disease.

“We need to build on past and current experiences tobetter prepare for future disease outbreaks, and we must act now to developappropriate strategies with political and financial commitment to protectexisting and future immunisation services. Let’s join hands to save lives with immunisations readily available toeveryone,” it concluded./.